By Eric Curl
Jan. 28, 2023 – The Georgia Historical Society is petitioning, along with three local sponsors, for the installation of a marker commemorating suffragist, community leader and Savannah native Mamie George Williams.
Community members had contacted GHS about installing the marker, which is also being sponsored by the League of Women’s Voters, Coastal Georgia, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.- Savannah Alumnae Chapter, and the Savannah Tribune, said GHS Marker Manager Elyse Butler.
The marker petition is one of the latest applications as GHS experiences an increase in efforts to recognize female and African American historical figures, Butler said.
“We do encourage applications for these under represented, under told stories,” Butler said.
The proposed marker is proposed to be installed at Dixon Park, where Williams lived and worked. It is to read as follows:
“Mamie George Williams, a life-long resident of Savannah, lived and worked near here. A political and civic leader, Williams volunteered for many organizations, including the Red Cross, the Girl Scouts, and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. A suffragist, she organized voter campaigns and registered African American women to vote following passage of the 19th Amendment. Nonetheless, African Americans were denied full voting rights, due to Jim Crow laws. In 1924, Williams became the first woman from Georgia and the first African American woman in the nation to serve on the Republican National Committee. A community leader, she led fundraising efforts for a home in Macon for African American girls and served as vice president of Carver State Bank. She worked with the African American Girl Scouts, financially assisting with establishing their Log Cabin Camp in Hancock County.”
The petition is set to be considered by the Historic Site and Monument Commission on Thursday. The commission’s recommendation will then go before the Savannah City Council for final approval.
The petition comes a little more than a month after the city council approved the installation of a historical marker commemorating Robert Edward “Robbie Robinson” in Cann Park. Born in 1947, Robinson was a Savannah civil rights leader, attorney, and city council member who died in 1989 from injuries caused by a mail bomb, as described in the staff report.
In addition, the city council recently approved a petition to designate an unnamed park at 10000 Bowden St. in Carver Village as “George Washington Carver Neighborhood Park.”
As described in the staff report, “Carver, was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. Born into slavery before it was outlawed, Carver left home at a young age to pursue education and would eventually earn a master’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State University.”
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